Saskatchewan’s provincial government is facing increased criticism over its handling of evacuees from wildfires raging in the province’s northern half.
More than 11,000 evacuees are registered with the Canadian Red Cross and the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency (SPSA) from 33 communities, and complaints are rising over a lack of financial support.
In a briefing Monday, Saskatchewan Public Safety Minister Tim McLeod said, “No evacuees should be turned away from the supports they need,” while pointing to the provincial hotline number for evacuee information, 1-855-559-5502.
“Everybody’s doing their level best to make sure that people are directed where they should be directed and get the resources that they need.”
Saskatchewan’s ombudsman is set to comment on Tuesday about what she calls the Government of Saskatchewan’s “lack of response to the needs of Northern Saskatchewan residents affected by wildfire.”
It follows days of criticism from the opposition NDP over evacuees not receiving timely payments to help with hotel or food costs while they’re out of their homes. Evacuees have pointed to their counterparts in Manitoba receiving e-transfers from their government.
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“People are being treated like babies or toddlers, like the government doesn’t trust us to spend the money properly,” said Moira Pinnell Davis, an evacuee from Creighton, Sask.
Some evacuees returning home, fires still out of control
Several communities were re-opened to start the week as the wildfire threat to their homes dwindled.
Residents of Weyakwin, located around 150 kilometres north of Prince Albert, were given the go-ahead over the weekend to return home. The Foran mining site near McIlvenna Bay is also beginning a staged return to work.
The community of Pelican Narrows also decided to allow healthy evacuees to return to the community, though the SPSA warned services weren’t completely restored to the area.
As residents expressed an eagerness to return, Steve Roberts, SPSA’s vice-president of operations, said there were many factors to consider before going home.
“It’s been unoccupied for a number of weeks,” Roberts said of the Pelican Narrows area. “Something to clarify and ask your community leads on (is), ‘Is this set up? Can I get this? Can I do this? Should I be bringing back groceries to cover me for one week?’”
As of Tuesday morning, the SPSA website indicated 24 actively burning wildfires across the province. Six of the fires were classified as out of control, while two were under the “protecting values” classification, which indicates fire crews are focused on saving infrastructure in the vicinity of the fire. Another 11 are being assessed.
The province’s largest fire, the Shoe complex fire, was last mapped at 500,281 hectares in size — approximately 22 times the size of Saskatoon.
